The present invention relates to scanning electron microscope (SEM) images, and more specifically, to automatic filtering of SEM images.
SEM images are used in many applications. In one exemplary application, data from SEM images is used to build optical proximity correction (OPC) models that are used in optical lithography to optimize the printing process from layout masks to silicon wafers. The SEM images are currently obtained and verified (quality checked) manually to determine if they are proper candidates with which to generate the OPC models. However, because thousands of SEM images may be used to build the OPC models, manual verification or filtering of the SEM images can become time-consuming and error prone.